The present invention relates to database systems, and in particular, to flagging data frequently accessed by a user of a business application.
Databases are increasingly relied upon for a number of business tasks. Often, the raw data present in an underlying database is accessed for use as part of a data object. Such a data object comprises a data structure that organizes a collection of individual pieces of related data, in a particular way.
For example, one type of business application that relies upon database information in the form of data objects, is Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. In such a CRM application, a data object could comprise a customer, made up of constituent raw data from an underlying database in the form of a customer name, a customer address, a customer phone number, and others.
Large enterprise information systems may reference thousands of customers, each having multiple associated related pieces of information. Given the volume of different customers and the high frequency of contacting those customers, it may be difficult for an individual user of the database to effectively keep track the most frequently used business objects.
One conventional mechanism for tracking business objects, is to employ a “shelf” or other construct able to be used as a container to hold multiple most-used business objects for quick access. Conventionally, however, such an approach requires manual intervention from users in order to add or remove favorites from the shelf, and/or to flag particular business objects as favorites.
And, over time, business users may become busy with other tasks and to neglect to manually add/remove business objects to/from shelf. This can result in the material stored on the shelf becoming outdated.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method for managing frequently accessed data objects.